WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A
BY CAROL MORELLOThe Trump administration on
Tuesday announced a $5 million
reward for tips on sanctions-bust-
ing activities that allow North
Korea to continue developing nu-
clear weapons and accused China
of facilitating the illicit trade.
The leads are being solicited
through a new State Department
website, dprkrewards.com. The
targeted activities it lists include
money laundering, the export of
luxury goods to North Korea, cy-
beroperations and other actions
that support the proliferation of
weapons of mass destruction.
“I assure you, many of the tips
we receive through this program
will directly implicate that trade,”
Alex Wong, the State Depart-
ment’s deputy envoy for North
Korea, said in a virtual speech at
the Center for Strategic and Inter-
national Studies.
Wong warned that the United
States will impose more sanctions
related to North Korea in the two
months remaining before the
Trump administration ends, in-
cluding penalties on people and
entities in China that facilitate
illicit trade.
“We’ve imposed numerous
such sanctions designations in
the past,” Wong said. “And more
are forthcoming.”
Wong accused China of a “fla-
grant violation” of its obligation
to enforce international sanc-
tions on North Korea.
The rewards program under-
scores how even in its waning
days, the Trump administration is
doubling down on its relentless
“maximum pressure” campaigns
against countries it considers its
chief nemeses. Although the
sanctions campaigns have ham-
pered the economies of the target-
ed countries, none has succeeded
in dislodging the regimes or mak-
ing them change their authoritar-
ian behavior, the stated aim.
Tensions have ratcheted up re-
cently with Iran, which blames
Israel and the United States for
the assassination of its foremost
nuclear scientist. China bristles
every time Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo lambastes Beijing
for the global coronavirus pan-
demic, which he calls “the virus
from Wuhan.” And on Monday,the administration imposed sanc-
tions on a Chinese electronics
firm it said had supported Ven-
ezuelan President Nicolás Ma-
duro’s efforts to undermine de-
mocracy.
With the impending sanctions
against the North Korean regime,
the administration is elevating
tensions with another interna-
tional hot spot, creating potential
problems that will be waiting for
President-elect Joe Biden when
he takes office next month.
North Korea’s economy has
been strangled through sanctions
the U.N. Security Council has put
in place since 2006.
“The biggest obstacle to an
economically strong North Korea
is the regime’s programs to build
nuclear, chemical and biological
weapons and the means to deliver
those weapons around the globe,”
Wong said.
He expressed U.S. “disappoint-
ment” at a military parade in
Pyongyang on Oct. 10 that fea-
tured a new intercontinental bal-
listic missile and showed off an
array of modernized military sys-
tems, from small arms to antitank
and air-defense systems.
Repeatedly singling out China
in his remarks, Wong accused
Beijing of helping North Korea
obtain the money to continue its
military buildup and said the
United States had documented
555 incidents of ships carrying
coal and other banned goods
from North Korea to China.
Wong said China is “seeking to
undo” U.N. sanctions that are
supposed to persuade North Ko-
rea to abandon its nuclear weap-
ons and ballistic missiles.
Beijing is host to at least 20,
North Korean laborers whose sal-
aries are funneled to the govern-
ment in Pyongyang for weapons
development. Suggesting a group
of potential targets to upcoming
U.S. sanctions, Wong said Beijing
allows Chinese companies to con-
tinue trade in U.N.-prohibited
goods including seafood, textiles,
iron and steel.
“The DPRK still retains shad-
owy avenues to procure inputs to
its weapons programs,” he said,
using the acronym for North Ko-
rea’s official name, the Democrat-
ic People’s Republic of Korea.
[email protected]U.S. offers reward for tips
BY SIMON DENYER about North Korea, China
AND AKIKO KASHIWAGItokyo — A Nike advertisement
highlighting racial discrimina-
tion faced by schoolgirls in Japan,
and suggesting they can over-
come it through sports, has pro-
voked a fierce debate and back-
lash in a nation unaccustomed to
openly discussing such issues.
The video showing three young
soccer players is based on the
“real life experience of athletes,”
Nike Japan said, conveying how
they “overcome their daily strug-
gles and conflicts to move their
future through sports.”
The ad has been viewed about
25 million times across Twitter
and YouTube. It has been shared
or liked nearly 80,000 times on
Twitter, but negative reactions ac-
celerated this week, with likes
outnumbering dislikes on You-
Tube only by a few thousand.
Japan’s national identity is
based partly on a myth of itself as
a monoethnic country. This has
fueled the marginalization of the
indigenous Ainu people in the
past, as well as discrimination
against ethnic Koreans and Chi-
nese, biracial Japanese people
and immigrants.
Many commenters said Nike
was exaggerating the scale of dis-
crimination, arguing that it was
unfair to single out Japan. Some
threatened to boycott Nike prod-
ucts.
Japanese American tennis
player Naomi Osaka, who is spon-
sored by Nike, has helped to stir a
debate about racism in Japan af-
ter speaking out about the Black
Lives Matter movement, drawing
a mixture of support and criticism
on social media here and even
reportedly discomforting some of
her Japanese corporate sponsors.
In the video, one girl is seen
looking at an image of Osaka
framed by the question, “Is she
American? Japanese?” — reflect-
ing the tone of some of the com-
ments the tennis star has faced.
The girls featured in the video
include an ethnic Korean girl and
another who looks biracial like
Osaka, as well as a third girl who
is bullied at school and online.
Footage of them practicing with a
soccer ball is interspersed with
scenes of them questioning their
struggle to fit in.
“I sometimes think... ‘Who
am I?... Is there anything I can
do?’ ” the girls ask themselves.
“ ‘Am I a disappointment? Am I
not normal?’ ”
The girls are stared at, singled
out, shunned and bullied at
school, and continue to question
themselves. “I wish I could ignore
them all,” the girls say.
But the advertisement ends
with an inspiring message as the
girls perform starring roles on the
soccer field and conclude that
they don’t have to conform.
“Someday we will see a world
when everyone will become able
to live as they are,” the girls say.
“But we can’t wait for that.”
The video is titled “The Future
Isn’t Waiting,” with the hashtag
#YouCantStopUs.
Journalist Shuji Shinohara
wrote that the initial reaction on
Twitter was largely positive, but
negative comments started to
outweigh positive ones on Mon-
day, possibly led by influential
commentators.
“There is racism in every coun-
try, and not just in Japan,” one
person commented. “I am sure
you have made different versions
for each of the United States,
Britain, France and other coun-
tries?”
Another described the video as
“awful,” saying: “It’s as if they are
trying to say this kind of discrimi-nation is everywhere in Japan.”
Author and former police de-
tective Tadanobu Bando said he
does not deny that discrimination
exists in Japan.
“But this commercial describ-
ing Japan, where there is not so
much racism, does not sit well
with me and I feel they are trying
to impose a certain impression,”
he tweeted, in a comment liked or
retweeted more than 12,
times. “I do have Nikes, but they
are made by people who make a
commercial that disparages peo-
ple for their own sales. It’s nause-
ating to wear them, and I don’t
think I would wear them.”
Some commentators accused
Nike of hypocrisy, citing reports
that the company has used forced
labor by ethnic Uighurs in China,
a mostly Muslim minority group
that has faced mass internment.
Artist Tomomi Shimizu, who
drew a manga about the persecu-
tion faced by Uighurs, said the
video made her “feel sick,” and she
quoted Vice President Pence’s
criticism of Nike for ignoring the
“abuse of human rights” in China.
But others were more enthusi-
astic, expressing pride in wearing
Nike, or pointing out that the
response to the video was “proof
there is discrimination in this
country.”“Nike’s commercial is amaz-
ing!” wrote Kumiko Mori, a culi-
nary expert and blogger. “This is
the first time I’ve see a commer-
cial that so openly approaches the
issue of racial discrimination! Got
goose bumps!”
That the debate was happening
at all was something of a revela-
tion in Japan.
“The very fact that the number
of dislikes and likes are going
head to head suggests that this ad
needed to be produced,” wrote
one commenter.
Yuma Endo, who described
himself as a marketing company
CEO, wrote in a blog post that the
response proved that “angry el-
derly men” were not the target of
Nike’s campaign.
Nike’s campaigns in the United
States featuring Colin Kaepernick
— the former NFL quarterback
who knelt during the national
anthem to protest racial injustice
and subsequently lost his place in
the league — have also stirred
strong responses. Its Dream Cra-
zy advertisement won the award
for outstanding commercial at
the Creative Arts Emmys in 2019.
It boosted sales but was criticized
by President Trump for sending
“a terrible message.”
[email protected]
[email protected]Nike ad targeting racism spurs backlash in Japan
DANIELLE PARHIZKARAN/USA TODAY SPORTS
Japanese American tennis player Naomi Osaka, who is sponsored by Nike, has helped to stir a debate
about racism in Japan after speaking out about the Black Lives Matter movement.ANNIE LINSKEY
National Political Reporter
The Washington PostDANA MILBANK
Opinions Columnist
The Washington PostKATHLEEN PARKER
Opinions Columnist
The Washington PostHosted by The Post’s Jonathan CapehartThursday, Dec. 3 at 9:00 a.m. ETWatch Live: wapo.st/firstlookdec